President Bola Tinubu has called for debt forgiveness for Nigeria and other developing countries from creditors and multilateral financial institutions.
“…we must ensure that any reform of the international financial system includes comprehensive debt relief measures.
“This will ensure a sustainable financing for development. Countries of the global South cannot make meaningful economic progress without special concessions and a review of their current debt burden.”
Mr Tinubu made the call while addressing world leaders at the ongoing 79th Session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) at the UN headquarters in New York, United States.
This is contained in a statement issued by spokesperson of Vice-President Kashim Shettima, Mr Stanley Nkwocha, on Wednesday.
President Tinubu is represented at the global forum by Vice-President Shettima.
Mr Tinubu called for reforms in the international financial system and expressed the hope that “the adoption of the “Pact for the Future” could change the narrative, reposition economies and translate into concrete measures.
According to him, the measures will provide solutions to the challenges faced by developing and least developed countries.
“It is for this and other reasons that we reiterate the call by countries, especially of the global South, for reform of the international financial architecture and promotion of a rules-based, non-discriminatory, open, fair, inclusive, equitable and transparent multilateral trading system,” he noted.
Tinubu, who emphasised the dangers of digressing from multilateralism, drew the UN’s attention to the global debt burden undermining the ability of countries and governments to meet the needs of their citizens.
He also said that trade barriers and protectionist policies destroy the hopes for nations, and the uncontrollable competition discourages motivation and hampers global investments.
Calling for the recovery of the proceeds of corruption and illicit financial flows, Mr Tinubu maintained that the return of such funds to countries of origin “is a fundamental principle of the United Nations Convention against Corruption.
“Therefore, the international community must promote practical measures to strengthen international cooperation to recover and return stolen assets and to eradicate safe havens that facilitate illicit flows of funds from developing countries to the developed economies,” he added.
(NAN)
